CM team to offer CyanogenMod account to track your lost phone, new dual-releases planned

Android users are already pretty spoilt for choice when it comes to smartphone security apps, but default operating system protection has been lacking so far. However, in their never ending effort to one-up the default Android experience and patch up security exploits, the CyanogenMod development team has announced its new Device Finding service to help you find your lost phone.

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What separates CM’s Device Finding service from other apps already on the market, other than the fact that it’s included by default, is the additional end-to-end encryption added by the developers, so only the user’s browser and the missing gadget know how to talk to each other. This means that only you can access the location tracking and wipe data features, and as the server doesn’t store your password there’s no risk of a third party tracking you.

This feature will be made available via the new CyanogenMod Account being introduced by the team, which will also eventually make use of the Secure SMS project currently being worked on by CyanogenMod. There are also plans to bring additional functionality to CM Accounts over time, but more details will be made available about that in the future.

As well as the new Device Finding service, CyanogenMod has also announced that it will be switching over to a dual release system for future versions its ROMs. There will be two releases for each version, the “user” branch which is signed with a private key to keep the system in line with Android’s security framework, and a “developer” release which will keep the platform more open so that developers can continue to do their thing.